Ghosts
by Tiva4evaxxx
Summary: Jane and Lisbon are at a crime scene, where they find a young girl Natalie. Their discovery, and what the girl tells them uncovers some horrific truths. Jisbon of course. Warning: Abuse. Kind of a bad summary, but the fic is good. Well i think so... :P
1. Chapter 1

**A new fic! I wrote this on holiday, and i have like another two chapters already written :P So i hope people like it! Personally i hate the title but i couldn't think, i wasn't in a titley mood today, so if anyone has any ideas i may change it, if you can do that... For those of you that know or care i know the start of this is similar to my Bones fic ROL but it's actually pretty different... Anyway i hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. :( *sobs* Although i do own my OC's...**

Chapter 1

The girl had long tangled and curly waves of dark brown hair. Her bright blue eyes were wide with fear, and her pale face was tainted with dirt. She looked about ten years old. She was thin as a rake, bones sticking out all over the place but she had a sort of a haunted beauty about, her despite her grimy and unhealthily slim appearance.

She peeked out from her hiding place, and was terrified to see the uniformed police officers outside the door. So she curled up in a ball and waited, hidden.

Half an hour later, the CBI arrived.

"Jane, what are you doing?" Lisbon said at the crime scene, as he walked around the bed in the hotel and she followed him. He held up a hand and didn't speak so she just continued to follow him around curiosity mixed with irritation – the curiosity overruling the irritation, this time.

He bent down slowly, "Jane, what are you-"

Then she heard a squeak, and quickly joined him on her knees.

"Oh my god," Lisbon said, swallowing.

Jane reached out a hand towards the wide eyed, frightened girl. She flinched away from his hand.

"It's ok sweet heart, we're not going to hurt you," Lisbon said softly. "My name's Teresa Lisbon, and this is Patrick Jane we're with the California Bureau of Investigation." The girl looked at her suspicion and distrust in her eyes, even when she held out her badge.

"Why don't you come out?" Jane said, "Nothing's going to happen to you, we would just like to know what you're doing here."

The girl shrank away from Jane. "What's your name?" He asked, the girl furiously shook her head, apparently terrified.

"You try," he whispered turning to Lisbon,

"What?" She asked also whispering, "You're the psychic one."

"I'm not a psychic," He said. "Just try,"

"Fine, but I'm not promising anything."

They both turned back to the girl, "What's your name?" she asked this time.

She shook her head again, staring at Jane.

"I'm going to go," he whispered to Lisbon.

"No, you can't leave me," she hissed.

"Have some faith in yourself, she's only a child."

"A scared and traumatized one," She whispered.

"You can do it," he said, seriously.

"Look, I think my presence is stopping her talking, I'll be just outside the room."

She watched him go with that cute 'you're abandoning me?' little girl look, it was all he could do to stop himself smiling.

Once the girl had watched his feet go out of the room, she turned back to Lisbon.

"Look, we need to know your name so we can help you. What's you're name?"

"Natalie," she said quietly.

"That's a pretty name," she smiled at her, "Can you come out for me?"

She looked around wearily, and shook her head again.

"How old are you?" She asked gently.

"Ten."

"Natalie, I really need you to come out for me, because if you don't other people are going to make you. I think it would be much easier for you and me if you came out now."

"Will you make me go back to them?" she said in barely a whisper.

"Back to who?"

"Will you?"

"No, no. You'll be coming with me, back to the CBI we have to ask you a few questions."

Slowly, so slowly that at first Lisbon was sure she was imagining it, Natalie edged forward towards her. A wave of emotion coursed through her, for the girl, for what she'd most likely seen and when she held out her hand cautiously, Natalie took it.

Once she was completely out from under the bed, Lisbon stood up, and Natalie followed her.

For the first time Lisbon got a good look at her, she was very thin, underfed by the look of it. Her eyes, which were such a bright blue, looked a lot older than her age like she'd seen too much and she had a haunted look about her. She had guardedness about her, she was very wary.

The silence was awkward, but Lisbon didn't know what to say. Why was this girl here? In this mans hotel room? Was she his daughter? Had she seen what had happened? Was that why she was so scared? Questions were firing around her head, Jane, where was Jane?

"Natalie, I need to take you back to the CBI now, ok?"

She nodded, still very reserved.

She walked out, and was flooded with relief when she saw Jane stood outside as promised. Natalie however was obviously not as pleased to see Jane as Lisbon was, she shrank away behind Lisbon.

"He's not going to hurt you," Lisbon said coaxingly, "Jane, this is Natalie,"

"It's ok," he said to Natalie, "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not going to do anything – you're safe."

She came out a little from behind Lisbon, and took her hand, which surprised her but she gripped it in return anyway.

She remained subdued throughout the journey, not saying a single word unless spoken to, she sat in the back staring out the window with her nose and forehead pressed up against it.

Jane and Lisbon were exchanging meaningful looks, but not saying much with Natalie in the car. "Have you told everyone about this," she asked.

"I rang Cho he's doing it."

"Ok," she said nodding.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"How unlike you to be considerate," she said smiling at him, but the smile was strained.

"I'm always considerate, now stop avoiding the question."

"Oh really?"

"Lisbon,"

"Jane,"

"Stop avo-"

"I'm fine Jane,"

"Oh really?"

"Yes," she replied, clear that this conversation was over.

"Fine." He said, in an I-will-keep-bugging-you-about-this-later.

"Jane," she said in warning tones.

"What I didn't do anything?!" he said in his defense.

She glared at him, and he put his hands up, "see not saying anything".

She gave him a look.

"Fine." He said again. She just rolled her eyes in response.

When they got back to the CBI, they put her in one of the interrogations rooms under supervision. "I'll just be a few minutes, I've got some things to sort out," she felt a pang of guilt at leaving her.

When they'd left, Jane eyed her, "She'll live for a few minutes."

"What do you think?" She asked, letting the dependence on his answer and the desperation become evident in her voice.

"You're not ok," he said, looking unhappy at his observation.

"I don't matter at the moment, the traumatized girl in that room does," she said.

"Of course you matter," he frowned.

She looked at him, stress painted on her face, "Just thoughts please Jane." She couldn't deal with this right now.

"Judging by her reaction toward me, just how scared she was, and the fact she was alone in a hotel room with a man… I'm worried she's been sexually abused?"

She stood there in shock, Jane was normally right, but… then she remembered what Natalie had said to her:

"_Will you make me go back to them?"_

"_Back to who?"_

"_Will you?"_

"Oh my god, poor kid."

"I'm not 100% on this one," he said honestly, "She could just be traumatized upon seeing this man murdered, but if it was that I don't see why she would be so scared of me. If it is sexual abuse it would be a logical explanation to her fear of me and why she was a lot happier to confide in you."

"Jane, she said something to me, when you'd left, she said 'will you make me go back to them?'"

"I think we need to talk to her,"

"Don't you think she's been traumatized enough as it is?"

"We're going to have to at some point. We need to confirm our… suspicions. I hope I'm wrong. But we have to talk to her to find out. I'll go in with you it would be good if we can get her to trust both of us. But you should talk – she obviously has bonded with you on some level, and she definitely trusts you more, I'll just sort of stand in the corner."

"Jane," she started her voice faltering. "How do you interrogate a ten year old, about whether or not she's being sexually abused?"

"Don't think of an interrogation, you're just talking to her she's ten."

"And the abuse?"

"Nothing will make that easier," he said to her gently.

She sighed, "Ok, we should go."

**Please review! I love to know your thoughts... :)**

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	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter! I hope you like this, but i'm warning you it's sad.**

Chapter 2

They entered the room, and Natalie looked around apparently still terrified of both of them. "It's me Natalie, we have a few questions for you sweetheart," she said gently.

"I didn't do it," she said quietly looking up at them eyes wide, "It wasn't me,"

"That's ok, we just want to know why you were in the room."

"I can't," she shook her head, "Can't."

"Ok, can you answer this? What's your full name Natalie?"

That was obviously a question she could answer, "Natalie Isabelle White. They call me Belle, but I prefer Natalie, so that's what my friends call me when they're not there. They told me to forget my old name, but I don't want to and none of the other girls have completely different ones, just shortened. But they call me Belle."

"Ok, who calls you Belle?"

"They do,"

"Natalie, who's they?"

She shook her head, "This is important Natalie,"

"Miss. Cathy and the others, I don't know their names. The other girls might though."

"What other girls?"

"The others they keep me with. You won't make me go back will you?"

"Natalie we won't let you go back," It was Jane who spoke this time, "They can't get to you here."

"Good, because Miss. Cathy says if we tell anyone, she'll come get us, and kill us. And then we'll go to hell because she's says we're bad, naughty girls."

Lisbon turned to Jane, shocked.

"How many other girls are there Natalie?" Lisbon asked.

"There's twelve of us I think, that are there all the time. A few others come, but mostly they don't stay.

"Twelve… where are the girls kept?"

"In a basement I think, because there are stairs down to it, but the door is always locked. And there's no windows. Miss Cathy comes in to give us food and water, but sometimes when she comes in she takes one of us and blind folds us. Then you know." She said seriously.

"You know what Natalie?"

"That they're taking you somewhere, somewhere like the hotel room you found me in. To, to them… I always feel terrible when the other girls get blindfolded, but at the same time I'm really glad it's not me. I know that makes me a bad person," she said sadly, "but I can't help it."

"It doesn't make you a bad person Natalie," Lisbon said quietly.

She was just silent, apparently deep in thought.

Lisbon decided to try again.

"How long have you been with the other girls?"

"Well, most of them are new, but there are two of them who I've known since Miss. Cathy first had me, their names are Melanie and Jessie. I knew some others two, but they went away when we moved."

"How many times have you been moved?" Lisbon asked, horrified.

"Three times since Miss. Cathy got me when I was four."

"So that was why you were in the hotel?"

"As usual I was blindfolded, and it wasn't taken off till I was inside the hotel. One of Miss. Cathy's friends took to me up to the room, where I was told to wait and the door was locked. This is what normally happens, so I sat on the bed and waited. Then I heard yelling, and I got scared so I hid under the bed, and I was worried, cos Miss. Cathy gets angry if the client doesn't like you. If he doesn't you get a beaten back home, once one of the other girls, Joey, got beat so bad…." her voice trailed off, "She's gone now. Anyway, if he does like you, you get a treat like an extra blanket or extra food. Then the man came in, he was new he hadn't had me before but another man followed him he shot him, three times I think. Then he shut the door and ran. And I stayed under the bed. Then he came along," she said pointing at Jane, "And I got scared again, cos I thought he might be another one of Miss. Cathy's clients. But then you came," she said to Lisbon, "and I knew you wasn't one of Miss. Cathy's friends cos I know all of them." She finished.

Lisbon and Jane looked at each other, "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Lisbon said, trying to keep it together, "No Natalie this is not your fault. Now, me and Mr. Jane just have to sort a few more things out, but I promise we'll be back soon."

They got out of the room, and Lisbon leant against the wall and closed her eyes.

"I just need a minute Jane," she said quietly.

He touched her arm gently; a comforting gesture and she sighed and opened her eyes again looking at him.

"We need to run that name through the missing person's database. Can you tell Van Pelt? Through the whole of California, year 2003. If that doesn't work, expand the search in a logical way."

Just then Minelli came up behind her, "Agent Lisbon."

"Boss," she turned around.

"Why do we have a ten year old in custody?"

"Boss, we suspect that Natalie is, was involved in some kind of sex trafficking ring."

"What?"

"Me and Jane found her at the crime scene, we just spoke to her, and that's what we can gather from what she's said so far."

"If the media gets a hold of this," he muttered.

"There is a very scared ten year old girl over there boss, and a potential sex trafficking ring, right now the media isn't at the top of my list of things to worry about. With all due respect sir, please let me do my job and get someone else to handle all that crap,"

He nodded and regarded her, "Fine,"

She went and hid in her office. Today had started out as a normal day and now they were in the beginnings of possibly uncovering some kind of horrific operation that involved child prostitution. Kids make it harder, and this… to be completely truthful she hadn't encountered anything like this in her career before. She'd come across pedophilia before, and all sorts of sick things involving kids. But not on this scale. She'd only touched lightly on them really, she was she supposed one of the 'lucky ones' there. But not anymore. And Natalie, god knows what she'd been through she didn't even want to think about it, but she was going to have to.

Jane didn't knock, but just came in.

She didn't even bother complaining, she just looked at him. She was emotionally drained already, and nothing had really happened yet.

'Get a grip' she told herself.

"What do you want Jane?"

"To see if you're ok."

She sighed, "I'm fine, really."

"You're not, I'm not really either no one in our position would be."

"Then why ask?"

"Because I care,"

She looked at him, and something in his eyes made her start talking. She wasn't sure what it was, maybe the fact he seemed to be suffering almost as much as she was. "If I stop and actually think about it, it, it makes me want to throw up. I can't stop and think about it, because if I did I know it would stop me doing my job properly. I don't know how to handle an abused ten year old and me and you, particularly me are the only ones she'll talk too. I haven't got a clue what to do or say. On top of that there's what? Eleven other girls who are still living in that hell, we have to do this quickly, because the bastards who are doing this are gonna figure out we have Natalie and might move and then we loose the rest of them and any chance we might have of catching these people." She looked at him intensely, "So I guess I'm not fine, but I'm just going to keep saying it, because right now I don't have any other choice."

He nodded, "I think Van Pelt's got a hit on missing persons, and I thought I should get you first."

"Thanks," she said heavily.

"Boss," Van Pelt said when she saw her, "There's a record of a Natalie Isabelle White, abducted 2003, aged four."

The girl in the picture was a beautiful little girl, her smiled lit up her face and her long dark curls fell freely, her cheeks were fuller and had a pink tinge to them, and she looked clean, fresh faced and happy. Healthy. There were obvious similarities, it had to be the same girl. Except the Natalie she knew looked like the ghost of the girl in the photo.

**Please review *begs***

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	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, this is for Hayley (OutCold) cos she told me she wanted this UDed. :P I hope you like this, it's sad though, very sad to write.**

Chapter 3

Jane too was staring in disbelief at the picture, the others hadn't seen the girl yet, they didn't know the difference.

"Sorry Grace, could you say that again?"

"Natalie Isabelle White abducted 2003, age four. She's such a beautiful little girl,"

"Well, she's definitely the same girl we have in this building but she's changed a bit," Jane said.

"When? Where?" Lisbon asked.

"She was with her parents on a beach, one second she was there playing and the next she was gone, July 29th 2004. Parents had a huge campaign going to find her, but obviously it failed. So, Jane never did get round to telling me, what happened, why was she there at the crime scene?"

She looked at Jane in desperation, when he didn't say anything, she went to speak, a kind of dead look in her eye, "No, don't," he touched her arm, "I'll tell her."

She didn't have to say anything; he could see the 'thank you' in her eyes. "From what Natalie's told us, since her abduction she's been involved in some kind of sex trafficking ring,"

Grace didn't speak, she just looked horrified. "She was at the crime scene because she was waiting for the 'client'" he finished bitterly.

She clutched a hand to her mouth, "Oh my god. Poor Natalie, poor, poor Natalie."

Lisbon looked like she was on the verge of tears, and quickly walked off to her office, yelling behind something about paperwork.

Once she was behind the safety of closed doors, she sat down and tried desperately to compose herself. Breathe in. And breathe out.

Ok.

Ready to go.

A few minutes later, she left the confines of her office and bumped into Jane, "What happens next?"

She hadn't thought about that.

"I think we need to go and talk to Natalie again, get some details." She flinched at the thought, "About everything, the other girls names etc."

He nodded, "Will you come with me?" She asked, she didn't like to admit that she needed someone, but to be honest she wanted his support in there. And that took a lot for her to admit, she did not like to have to rely on anyone but herself.

"If you want me too."

She nodded. "I do," she told him quietly.

He followed her back to the room where Natalie was, he watched as she paused slightly before putting her hand on the door knob and entering.

Natalie looked up as they came in, almost jumping at the sound.

"It's only us," she smiled at her, and maybe it was her imagination but she thought she saw a hint of a smile on this serene girls face.

"We have a few more questions, is that ok?"

Natalie nodded, but didn't say anything.

"The other girls, apart from Melanie and Jessie, what are their names?"

"Well you're got me, Melanie, Jessie, Chrissy, Louise, Calleigh, Sephy, Mya, Sophie, Amber, Tasha and little Riss."

"Are those different names to their real ones? Like Miss. Cathy calls you Belle?"

"No, this is what we call each other when Miss. Cathy's not there. Except Jessie's real name is Jessica, Jessie is just a nickname, and Tasha is Natasha. Oh and Riss is not actually called Riss, her name's Clarissa but we call her little Riss, cos Clarissa seems a pretty big name for someone so little."

"Do you know any of their surnames?" Lisbon asked trying to not display any emotions, "And their ages?"

"I know that Mel's last name is Punshon, Mel's ten like me, Jessie is ten too, but she's like two months older than me I think her last name is Scott." Lisbon scribbled this down on a piece of paper, "Sephy, oh no actually her full proper name is Persephone but everyone calls her just Sephy. She's Sephy Ash. She was just eight, a week ago now I think but they took her out. I thought that was really mean to do that. Take someone out on their birthday? I didn't never get taken out on my birthday. I guess I was lucky. Louise is one of the newer ones, she's nine and is teaching us to read and write and stuff, cos she only just got took so she was in school before that. I can write lots of words now, Lou's a great teacher. Her name's Louise Okleay. She's only been there about a month. She cries a lot, says she misses her mom and dad and brother. I don't really remember my mom, I remember she was pretty and that she loved me, but it's like she's all fuzzy in my mind now. Like every day I forget her a little bit more. I wish I missed someone, I wish I remembered well enough to be able to miss. Do, do you think my mommy's forgotten about me, the same as I keep forgetting about her?" She looked at Lisbon, who took Natalie's hand.

"No Natalie, I bet she thinks about you every day."

She paused a second, "Really?"

"Yeah, mom's - they don't ever forget their children sweetheart."

They sat in silence for a little while, and then Lisbon spoke again, "Can you tell me anymore names Natalie, or would you like a break?"

"No, I'm ok. Ummm, Riss, Clarissa I mean, her last name is Rosen. And her middle name is the same as mine, so her full name is Clarissa Isabelle Rosen. Miss. Cathy told us that, I don't know why she told us her last name though." Natalie frowned, "She doesn't normally do that,"

"How old is Riss?" Lisbon asked quietly.

"She's the littlest out of all of us; I think she's about eighteen months. She's the only one they don't take out to clients yet. The other girls think she's lucky cos of that, but I don't. It means she'll get it for longer than any of us I was taken when I was four. The girls, there was one once and she was much older than us. She was seventeen, and the day, the day she turned eighteen they took her away. They don't want us no more when we get too old. But none of us know what happens when we get that old. But me and Mel decided we wouldn't worry bout that yet, cos though we're the oldest, we've got another eight years till we're that old."

"Ok Natalie, me and Mr. Jane are going to go sort some more things out, can we get you a drink or something?"

"Really?"

"Yes, what would you like?"

"What have you got?"

"Umm, water, milk, tea, orange juice."

Natalie's face lit up, "Please, please can I have some orange juice?"

"Sure sweetheart we'll be back in a few minutes."

Natalie looked ecstatic as they left.

When Lisbon looked at Jane confused, he answered her without her having to say the question, "She's not used to be asked if she wants something, she's learnt to just get what she's given and then be quiet and live with it. I doubt whether she's had orange juice for a very long time."

"Oh."

The stood outside the room in silence for a little, "An eighteen month old? They've got a baby."

"We need to go run those names she gave us but I don't want to leave Natalie in that room so I'll bring her out, she can sit on your couch and we'll find her something to eat. She must be hungry."

Jane nodded, and asked her, "Are you ok?"

"I wish you'd stop asking me that," she told him sighing, "I'm as ok as you are."

"So not ok at all then."

**Please review guys! They really give me a boost, which i need for this fic, cos i'm still pretty uneasy about this one.**

**Thanks,**

**Emily xxxxxxxxxxxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**I know, it's been so long. :( Please read, even though i haven't UDed in such a long time, i had major writers block on this for a very long time! A massive thanks to Jenn (Shopping_luva91) who gave me a long list of ideas to get this kickstarted again, really you owe her for this one. Thanks to Hayley (OutCold) for being there for me to moan at on msn about this, and thanks Al (FadeIntoTheBackground) because no matter how much i tell you it sucks, you always argue :P This one is i feel horrendously OOC. . . and i apoolgize, it'll get better after this chapter. It's a bit of a filler, nothing in the actual case moves along, but i'm glad i wrote it all the same. Here's a quick re cap of the last chapter, seeing as most of you have probably completely forgotten what happened :P (Me included!)**

_They stood outside the room in silence for a little, "An eighteen month old? They've got a baby."_

_"We need to go run those names she gave us but I don't want to leave Natalie in that room so I'll bring her out, she can sit on your couch and we'll find her something to eat. She must be hungry."_

_Jane nodded, and asked her, "Are you ok?"_

_"I wish you'd stop asking me that," she told him sighing, "I'm as ok as you are."_

_"So not ok at all then."_

Chapter 4

When Lisbon walked out of her office, Van Pelt was sat on the sofa with Natalie who looked relatively happy, despite the seemingly permanent serious look on her face. She was playing with Grace's hair, very softly. She liked the long, striking locks of hair, and Lisbon couldn't help but smile as a timid, small smile slowly spread across Natalie's face. She looked at the girl, and couldn't help but wonder how someone who had been through so much, could still so obviously gentle, and sweet. She had been sexually abused for six years - the thought made Lisbon sick to the stomach, yet here she was, caring and happy to be paid attention to by her or Grace. The only signs of what she had been through was her obvious distrust of Jane, her grubby appearance which could be quickly changed, and, perhaps the most profound insight, her eyes. Beneath the girlish exterior lay an almost frightening depth, she knew pain. That was something that couldn't be said about a lot of adults, let alone a ten year old. She had been through horrific things, and her bright, but serious blue eyes were a sign of that. She still had that childlike innocence about her in many ways, and in others, she had been stripped of it. It had been taken away. They had managed to save her, but she was only one girl. And, the ugly truth was that they had been too late. Six years too late. It was unlikely she would ever get over her traumatic past. In ten years, twenty years, fifty years these things would still haunt her on some level. She should know.

"Hey," Lisbon said, smiling softly at Natalie, and catching Van Pelts eye.

"Hi," Natalie said, smiling up at Lisbon, "Thanks for the orange juice,"

Lisbon smiled at her again, "You're welcome, you want anything else?"

"I'm ok thanks," she said, as Lisbon sat down on her other side, she continued plaiting Van Pelt's hair. "I wish I had hair like yours," she said to Grace, who smiled,

"You have beautiful hair," Grace told her,

She made a face, "No I don't," Lisbon laughed a little at her,

"Yes you do," Lisbon argued.

"I used to plait Mel's hair all the time, it's amazing. She's so pretty, it's long - like, right down to her waist - really bright blonde. It's like sunshine," she whispered the last part softly.

"We're going to find them," Lisbon found herself saying, you shouldn't make promises to the victims of crime, shouldn't give them false hope. But was it so wrong to give a ten year old, a _ten _year old the slightest bit of hope to cling onto, when she'd been deprived of any for six years? Was that so wrong? She felt yet another stirring of emotion inside of her, and decided it was best to focus on Natalie, try not to let herself feel, "I promise, we're going to find your friends," she said, avoiding Grace's eyes.

Natalie abandoned Grace's hair for a minute, and wrapped her small arms around Lisbon, who, slightly stunned, hesitantly put her arms around the girl, unsure of exactly what she should do.

Grace looked at Lisbon, a sad smile painted across her face, understanding passed between them, words were not required. "Do you want me to contact the parents boss?" She whispered.

Lisbon didn't say anything, just nodded, and smiled at her with thanks as she got up and walked away. Natalie eventually let go of Lisbon, "I hope you do,"

"We are very good at our jobs Natalie," she said, watching Jane across the room. Natalie shifted uncomfortably, "What's wrong?" Lisbon asked gently, she knew Natalie hadn't seen Jane, she was facing her.

"There's just a lot of people," she shrugged, talking quietly, "It's really… big."

"We could go in my office if you like?"

"You have an office?"

"Yeah, cos I'm boss and so that I'm not annoyed by the likes of Jane," Natalie giggled a little, and nodded at the suggestion.

"Come on then," Lisbon said standing up, "It's just over here," She walked over to her office, and opened the door for Natalie, who walked in and looked around.

"Lisbon?" Jane opened the door, and, taken by surprise Natalie jumped and quickly went to hide behind Lisbon.

"Sorry Natalie," he said, "Only me,"

Lisbon made eye contact with him, she looked tired. In more than one way, he frowned. He was fairly sure there was something more to this than she was letting on, but he wanted to establish a rapport with Natalie – he would talk to her later.

"It's ok Natalie, I wouldn't work with Jane if I didn't trust him," she said quietly, but regrettably, loud enough for him to hear. Instead of making some funny comment, which she thought he might, he said nothing. But he was touched. So she did trust him. That meant a lot, he had always know she did. But hearing him say it… was a completely different thing.

"You wanna sit down?" He said to the girl, who had come out from her hiding place behind Lisbon, sat gingerly on the couch, Lisbon sat on one side of her and Jane, a safe enough distance away sat on the other side.

"You wanna chocolate bar?"

She turned to Lisbon, for reassurance, he guessed, and she smiled and nodded very slightly. She turned and took the chocolate out of his hands. She unwrapped it, and bit into it, "Thanks," she said, looking at him, meeting his eyes for the first time.

"That's ok," He paused, "would you like to see something I made for Lisbon here one of the first times we met?" He said, grinning at Lisbon.

"Ok," she said, still wary and a little nervous. He beckoned for her to follow him round to Lisbon's desk, "Jane what are you doing…?"

Grinning he opened the second drawer down and extracted an origami frog, Lisbon's mouth was slightly open with surprise. "I knew you'd kept it," he said, still grinning at her.

"Yet you insist you're not psychic,"

"There's no such thing as psychic,"

"I heard you the first hundred times,"

"Yet you still ask?" Lisbon just rolled her eyes again and smiled, knowing what was coming.

Turning his attention back to Natalie, Jane beckoned again and she, with some hesitation, followed.

"I gave this is to Lisbon here, and I put it down on her desk, like this," he said, placing the frog down on the table.

She looked at him expectantly, but followed his gaze back to the paper frog. As it jumped on the table, she gave out a little squeak, but giggled. He turned towards her, "Good, isn't it?"

She nodded, smiling in delight, "Why did you give it to her?" Natalie asked, Jane could hear the confidence growing in her voice, and smiled – partly at Natalie, and partly at the memory.

"Because she was angry with me, for something I did on the case."

"So why did you give her a frog?"

"That's a good question," Lisbon said from across the room,

"I knew it'd make her smile," Jane said, "And I didn't want her to angry at me anymore,"

"Did it work?"

"Yes," Jane said, looking over at Lisbon, "She liked it, it's why she keeps it in here,"

"Shut up Jane," Lisbon said, blushing a little, but happy to see Natalie a little more relaxed around Jane – then again, he was Jane. If anyone could connect with her it would be him, even under the circumstances. She'd known Natalie would come through eventually, he was great with kids.

"Now she's blushing, because I'm right" Jane said to Natalie, who giggled a little more, which for some unknown reason made her blush even harder.

"Jane," she said, trying to sound like she was warning him, and failing because she was smiling too much.

Jane stood up and went over to Lisbon, "You're really very annoying," she said to him.

He nudged her, "I'm not that bad!" He protested, and caught her eye. Suddenly she couldn't look away, after a moment of silence and the two of them not breaking eye contact, she forced herself to remember this was about Natalie, not her and Jane, and turned back to the girl. Who was, to her surprise, smiling at the two of them.

She went over to them, they'd sat back down on the couch, and sat between again. "You're not like the other nasty people are you?" She said to Jane.

"No, I'm not," he said, seriously, "And a lot of people are good, you've just encountered lots of the bad ones."

"Really?" She said, her blue eyes wide, tinged with curiosity, breaking both of their hearts.

"Yeah," Jane said, he had that all too familiar distant look in his eyes, which she knew well. He was thinking about his own family.

"Jane?" Lisbon said gently, not getting a response, "Hey Natalie, come on, we're going to find Grace and see if you can talk to her about the other girls, descriptions and stuff, do you think you'll be able to do that?"

"Will it help?"

"Yeah, it will," she said, smiling at the girl, and walking out the office, leaving Jane.

Once they were out Natalie asked quietly, "Is Mr. Jane ok?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Lisbon lied, and quickly led her over to Grace, who pulled up a chair for her and started chatting away.

Lisbon turned back and went into her office, she sat down beside Jane. She didn't know what to say, but she knew that being there was something at least… something she could do to help.

Neither of them said anything for a while, they just sat, less than an inch between them, in silence. She knew that he would talk when he was ready.

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't be," she said softly, "You made pretty good progress with Natalie," she said, trying to make conversation – not wanting to pressure him into talking if he didn't want to. It wasn't the right time.

"I didn't think it would take long for her to trust me, what with you and me being the way we are, if you say and do things that make her think you trust me, she will follow, because she trusts you and looks to you when it comes to judgment calls,"

She nodded, and they sat in silence for a little longer. "Do you think we'll catch them?" She said, her own voice cracking slightly, "Sorry," it was her turn to apologize as tears filled her eyes. But she wouldn't cry. None of this was about her.

"You won't break your promise Teresa," he said, and to her surprise he wrapped her arms around her. Knowing the human contact she was craving, the same craving he was having, but knowing she would never ask him for it.

"It's just a hug," he whispered, he knew she was about to protest.

"What if I do?" she whispered, "What if they get away? What if the other girls aren't found? We don't close every case."

"You won't break your promise," he repeated.

She prayed he was right.

**Please review. They are very important for this one especially, if you have any ideas for the story also let me know, because i want to continue but i've been a little stuck! **

**Thanks! Emily xxxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Short UD guys. I'm tired, and ill, and have been revising biology for what feels like forever. You should feel lucky :P Hope you like it.**

Chapter 5

When Minelli opened the door of her office they flew quickly flew apart, and sat like nothing had happened, he eyes the two of them slightly suspiciously.

"What are you two doing?"

"Just discussing the case Boss," Lisbon said as she got to her feet wearily.

"Are you going to be able to deal with this one? Both of you," He asked, concerned for his agents but also serious – if they couldn't hack it… Lisbon looked tired, she looked drained, and while they all were she couldn't afford to show her team that. He reminded himself however, that she was in the privacy of her own office, and that she and Jane were close. He had no real doubt she could lead this one, he was worried about her.

"Of course I can deal with this one boss, what kind of question is that?" Lisbon stepped forward, anger in her tone. Jane touched a hand to her arm, and gave her a look that she clearly understood because she backed down.

"We are both fine," Jane said quietly, which Minelli took as his cue to leave.

"Okay," He said, backing out the door and closing it.

He waited. And waited. Then the explosion started. "I can't believe he just did that," she fumed, "How dare he say something like that and with you in the ro-"

"He's just worried about you," Jane said softly, "Calm down,"

"He doubted my ability to do my job, to lead my team," she fumed,

"He used that as a cover up," he looked at her, "he's just worried about you," she met his eyes, and knew he was telling the truth. She should have seen that. Maybe he was right. She was an emotional wreck. She sunk back down into the chair, resting her head in her hands.

"Is is that obvious?" She asked through gritted teeth, in an attempt not to cry. Not to show the weakness she was feeling.

"Only to those who care,"

She removed her hands and raised her eyes to meet his, not quite sure of what to say.

"Let's go," She said, and he held out a hand to help her up, and, smiling, she took it.

Grace was still sat with Natalie, who had started to re-plait her hair.

"We need to get in touch with her parents," Lisbon said,

"What are you going to tell them?" Jane asked,

"We have to tell them everything, by law, and seeing as we've identified Natalie as, Natalie Isabelle White, I need to make that call."

"Will they have immediate custody of her?"

"I'm an Agent not a lawyer, they'll probably have their own lawyer, but they won't be here till at least tomorrow. I've spoken to the legal people, I'm listed as a foster person so I can look after her tonight,"

He looked at her questioningly, "My brothers," she explained, "Two of them have kids, and they wanted me too… never mind."

"You want me to make the call?" Jane offered,

"No, I'll do it." Lisbon sighed, "It's not like I can actually tell them anything, we have to do that face to face,"

"Ok, I'll go talk to Cho,"

Lisbon walked back into her office, leaving the door ajar, and sat at her desk, picking up the phone a little hesitant.

She gulped, "Hello, is this Mrs. White?"

"Yes, who's calling?"

"I'm Special Agent Teresa Lisbon, and I'm with the California bureau of investigation,"

"Is, is this about Natalie?"

"Yes, it is."

"What? Have you found her? What's going on?" She was clearly distressed, which Lisbon had been expecting, but it didn't make it any easier to deal with.

"Please stay calm, Mrs. White,"

"Call me Laura,"

"Ok, Laura, look I'm sorry but I can't tell you any more than this, there's some new evidence in regard to the disappearance of your daughter six years ago, but we would like you to come up here and review it."

"Is that it?"

"I am sorry, but we really can't disclose anymore than that until you arrive."

"Have you found my daughter? I have a right to know if you've found her, it's been six years," her voice was pleading.

God she hated this part of the job, "I want to tell you more than that but I can't, I'm sorry," she said, her tone apologetic.

"Where..." the woman asked, "When?"

"As soon as you can get here would be best, and CBI headquarters in Sacramento, and if you need to contact us you can ring the office here, and ask them to put you through to me – say it's about the Natalie White case."

"We'll be on the next flight," Laura said, sounding numb.

"I presume it will be you and your husband?"

"Erm, right, yes, are you sure you can't tell me anymore?" she begged,

"I'm sorry, but no."

"I'll see you early tomorrow Agent Lisbon,"

And then she hung up.

Tomorrow would be difficult. But right now, she needed to focus on tonight, and Natalie, not worry about how the hell she was going to break the news to Natalie's parents that the daughter they obviously loved dearly had been sexually abused the six years following her abduction when she was two. Now, that was something she couldn't handle thinking about. So, instead, she returned to Van Pelt and Natalie, who were currently perfectly content chatting away. Smiling but with a sadness in her eyes, she took a deep breath, she'd told Minelli she could do this. And she could. She would. No matter how hard it might be.

**Please review. I feel like i deserve them today :L**

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	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! An UD... yay! This focusses a lot on the jisbon developey side of things, but i hope you like it anyway. This is for Hayley (OutCold) for writing me the awesome oneshots :) Check them out, they'll be on this page somewhere :P **

Chapter 6

Natalie had stayed with Lisbon overnight, and so had Jane – on the couch. She recalled the conversation the night before, it had been late and they were still at the office. She'd been uneasy about taking Natalie home, not sure… she hadn't known how to handle the situation. Whether Natalie would talk to her, whether she should get her to talk…

"_What do I do?" She whispered to Jane, _

"_What do you mean?" _

"_I don't know how to handle this," _

"_Stop panicking," Jane said, resting a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him with pleading eyes. _

"_Do you want me to stay over?" _

"_You don't, what I mean is-"_

"_It's fine, but just so you know, you'd be fine anyway," She rolled her eyes, but relief filled her, "Thank you," she said quietly smiling sadly, he reached an arm round her back and pulled her towards him, "What are you doing Jane?"_

"_You need a hug," He stated, pulling her closer, and wrapping his other arm around her. _

"_Again?" She asked, hating the vulnerability she could hear in her own voice. _

"_It's you who needs them," _

"_So do you," she said, burying her head into his shoulder, not knowing what any of this meant, but knowing that it was complicated, and right now… it felt nice, it felt good. It was an unspoken understanding they had between them, when the other one needed the comfort, when they didn't want to be alone, just when they needed the support that no one else could quite provide… they would be there. And for now, being there was enough, being there like this was enough. She couldn't cope with anymore right now, but now they were here, she couldn't ever cope with any less. _

It turned out to have been fine, she had set up the spare room for Natalie, and Jane had politely offered to take the couch. Natalie had gone to bed, asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, she must have been exhausted. She had been planning to get an early night, and had instead ending up sitting with Jane, in her bedroom, just talking. About nothing really, nothing of any significance, anyway. Until she glanced at the clock, and had seen that it was 1am, and realized that even though it was unlikely she would get any sleep, it would be better to try.

"_We should get some sleep," she said, awkwardly. _

"_Sure," He jumped up and got off the bed, as much as he wanted to stay, as much as his heart was screaming at him to kiss her there and then, it wasn't right, and neither was it fair. So, instead, it took all the willpower he owned, but he walked out the door, softly saying goodnight. He shut the door behind him, and took a deep breath. He would not do this to her, he would not be so selfish as to use her when she was vulnerable, not when she was vulnerable and letting him see her, letting him in._

They stood together in the office now, both thinking about the night before for no real reason. It was 4pm, and they'd spent the morning preparing for the parents arrival, talking it through, etc. Their plane had been delayed which was why it was the afternoon. Yet all she could think about was Jane… Lisbon cursed herself, Natalie's parents would be arriving in a few minutes, and she was currently thinking about her and Jane… or the absence of her and Jane, or… whatever it is that they 'have'. Not that they have anything… or anything…

"You ready?" Jane asked her, while she quietly wondered what she had done to deserve someone like him.

She nodded, and didn't react as he slipped his hand inside hers but showed her appreciation by squeezing his hand back.

"Natalie's upstairs with Van Pelt right?"

"Stop worrying, she won't be down while they're here – they won't meet until we want them to. Lisbon,"

"What?"

"Breathe,"

"Right,"

"I mean it,"

"I AM breathing Jane,"

Cho came up to them, and Lisbon quickly let go of Jane's hand, luckily he didn't notice… and if he did, he did a good job of showing it. Not that they had anything to hide or anything. Because nothing was going on, not really – not that she wanted to or anything. She was rambling. In her own head. She was rambling.

Get a grip. "Yeah, Cho,"

"Mr. and Mrs. White are here," She nodded, and swallowed.

"Ok, get someone to show them into my office,"

"Sure boss," Cho said, walking away.

"You want me to go… or stay?" Jane asked, unsure of himself, something that didn't happen very often.

"Stay… but I'll do the talking, that's my job, not yours."

"Okay," He opened his mouth to say something else, but by that time it was too late and an officer and Natalie's parents were approaching. "Hello Mrs. White, I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, we spoke on the phone – this is Patrick Jane, a consultant to the CBI."

"Hi, please, do call me Laura, you haven't spoken to my husband, this is Jackson,"

Laura was tanned and had dark hair, the resemblance to her daughter was clear, Jackson was tall, brown haired and although it wasn't as clear, there were signs there, the eyes, the shape of the lips…

"Hi," Jackson said, shaking hands in a relatively warm exchange, but unsmiling. Years of stress, and worry, and a little bit of hope were evident on both their faces, they had loved Natalie. She could see that, anyone could.

"I think you should sit down," Lisbon said, as the four of them filed into her office.

"Look, I want you to be straight with us… We've been hoping all these years, but I knew it would come to this…"

"Jackson, we don't know what they're here for," Laura begged, "She… she-"

"Honey, I told you, we can't get our hopes up, not again…"

Something broke in Lisbon in that moment, and she opened her mouth to deliver news that would bring joy and heartbreak simultaneously, "Mr. and Mrs. White…" She faltered slightly,

"Please, just tell us," Laura begged, tears clouding her eyes.

"Your daughter, Natalie – we have her here in police custody," She watched as shock, complete and utter shock passed over their faces. "She's in relatively good condition, physically…" Laura was shaking her head, tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she was gripping her husband's hand.

"Oh my god, oh my god…"She mumbled, and her husband hugged her, the beginnings of a smile on her face, "She's alive," he whispered, "After all these years…"

"I know this is a huge shock, but I'm afraid there's more,"

"What, what do you mean there's more? After all these years you found her, you finally did your jobs right," Laura said, "What else is there?"

"I'm sorry," Lisbon whispered, "I'm so sorry, but we have very strong reason to believe that for the past six years, since Natalie's abduction, she has been involved in a sex trafficking ring,"

Jane glanced at Lisbon, she was holding up well, but if you looked close enough she was shaking, just very slightly, and he hoped she was ready, because nothing about the next couple of hours was going to be easy.

**:O:O:O I know. I was like... ok, how do i do this? Next chapter won't be too fun :/ But i hope you like it. And i have some stuff planned. Review, and you might find out what!! :P**

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	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, so i pretty much owe this whole chapter to Alice (FadeIntoTheBackground) best friend eveeer, because i told her the idea and what i wanted to happen, and she wrote it. I mean, i wrote some of it, obviously. Cookies to anyone who can guess where my writing ends and hers begins ;P (here's a hint, it's when the bad writing stops and the good writing starts!) I had a bit of a block for this chapter, hopefully i'm over it now though, thanks to Al. So please, let her take all the credit, she deserves it :) And here is the end of last chapter, just in case anyone had forgotten :P**

_"I'm sorry," Lisbon whispered, "I'm so sorry, but we have very strong reason to believe that for the past six years, since Natalie's abduction, she has been involved in a sex trafficking ring,"_

_Jane glanced at Lisbon, she was holding up well, but if you looked close enough she was shaking, just very slightly, and he hoped she was ready, because nothing about the next couple of hours was going to be easy._

Chapter 7

Mr. White was the first to speak, "What?"

"Her kidnapper appears to have targeted young girls, and since her abduction we have strong suspicions that she has been involved in a sex trafficking ring," Lisbon said quietly, watching Laura who seemed to have frozen with shock.

"No," the woman whispered quietly, "no, no, no," She shook her head, finally moving, tears spilling over her cheeks,

"I'm sorry," Lisbon said softly,

"No, no you're not," the previously fragile, quiet woman stared at her, disgust and hate in her eyes, directed at Lisbon. "This is your fault, if you'd done your jobs in the first place, then this wouldn't have happen! How the hell could you miss something like this?! This is your fault," she said, standing up, anger in her eyes.

Lisbon stood up to match her, "I know this is hard," she said quietly, "I know it hurts, but we are trying to help Natalie-"

"Shut up," she hissed, "Shut the hell up," she yelled, bringing her hand up and slapping Lisbon across the face with full force, and fleeing from her office.

"I'm sorry," Jackson said, but Jane was busy tending to Lisbon.

"You need to get her back here or we'll call security," Jane said quickly, then returning his attention back to her.

He nodded, still dazed from the news, and he too left the office.

"I'm fine Jane," Lisbon said, sitting down, she too was dazed.

"You know she just said that because she was angry, we all say things we don't mean under pressure like that."

Lisbon nodded, but her eyes were disbelieving, trust her to blame herself. Jane watched as she lightly brushed her hand over her reddening cheek, and didn't say anything, just watched her process the last few minutes in her mind.

"Where is she?"

"Her husband's gone to get her,"

"No, Natalie, where is she?"

"Same place she was when you last asked, she's upstairs with Van Pelt, look, are you sure you-"

"I can handle it Jane, what I can't handle is everyone doubting that I can, I can do my damn job,"

"I never said I doubted to your ability, I just wanted to check you were ok,"

"I told you, I'm fine,"

Well, that was a load of bullshit, but she wasn't about to admit it, not yet anyway. He knew anyway, she wasn't sure why he bothered asking anymore.

"Teresa."

She looked up at him.

"I'm asking because I care."

"_I know you do," _she wanted to say, despite herself, but her throat wouldn't quite let her, what with his eyes staring down into hers, so blindingly. Her stomach and head jolted, and she thought that maybe, if the situation had been different, less urgent, things might turn out differently, they might have....

As it were, they came dangerously close. Jane wrapped his arms briefly around her, but, even though it was hard, even though it hurt, Lisbon pulled away. There was something more important than the two of them right now.

"Natalie...." She walked fast, out of her office and into the upstairs corridor, where Natalie was waiting with Van Pelt. She didn't know where else to go, where would Mr and Mrs White be? Would Jackson have calmed her down? Where the hell was she? And... Natalie... So many unanswered questions were suddenly surging through her head.

She had to get to Natalie, she owed it to her, because if by some chance the couple came across their daughter...

She broke into a run, Jane just behind her. They wheeled into the corridor, and the most wondrous sight finally met Lisbon's eyes. Natalie, safe – with her parents nowhere in sight. Skipping alongside Grace, who was laughing as they walked down the corridor towards Lisbon and Jane.

"What's going on?" Lisbon asked them.

"Everything's fine," Van Pelt smiled. "Natalie just wanted a drink, so we're just going now. How did the, umm..." She looked away from Natalie and lowered her eyes, "conference go? Where are they?"

They heard footsteps down the corridor, and Mr White emerged, his arm around his wife, who's face was still tear-streaked, and who suddenly looked a lot older in the space of a few minutes.

Oh shit.

Natalie was already looking at her parents. A slight questioning look on her little face, but no sign of recognition.

But Mrs White had stopped, and she stared.

Shit.

Lisbon edged slightly closer to Natalie, and didn't realise it until Jane stepped up beside her.

Mr White stared at his ten year old daughter, the girl who had obviously grown up too fast in the space of such a short time, the girl who had been groomed and fed and looked after for a few days, which was not enough to erase or hide the scars from the past clear on her face and the haunted look of her terrible past that lingered in her eyes.

His daughter.

He tried to speak. "N-Nat-?"

Mrs White's breathing rate rose, and she reached out a trembling hand, despite being over a metre away from her daughter.

Natalie was getting scared. She didn't know who these people were. Slowly, trembling, like she was terrified to move in case something attacked her, she drew away from Van Pelt and edged towards Lisbon, who caught up her small, cold hand and held it there.

"Natalie?"

Lisbon flinched at the sound of Mrs White's cold voice. It was suddenly empty, expressionless, and in one word she experienced the pain that this mother had been through, and the blinding discovery of the child she never really knew.

"Nat?" Her voice cracked again.

Natalie drew back, trying to close in on herself, trying to block out her incomprehensible situation.

Another two tears slid down Mrs. White's face as it became clear to her that her daughter just didn't recognize her. Mr. White's face was tight and strained, and he looked up at Jane and Lisbon with fear in his eyes.

"Please agent Lisbon," he begged in a low voice. "Catch the bastards that did this to our daughter."

Lisbon nodded, and bent down to comfort a seemingly terrified Natalie, who immediately flung her arms round her when she got low enough, "It's ok," Lisbon whispered, hugging her tightly, "Everything is going to be just fine."

**The last line was mine :P Lol. I hope you liked it! Please review, if not for me, for Al :P**

**Thanks for reading!**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so i had block on this. It's hardly my fault that i'm awful at case fics :P So this is pretty much pure Jisbon. This chapter. It gets a bit steamy, but it's still a T. Because i'm too young for M ;P No it's not that bad really, just warning you in case anyone is completely opposed to that anything that goes that way... *remembers that this fic is about a sex trafficking ring* Nevermind. But they are different. So i just decided to warn you. Dedicated to Hay (OutCold) because she is awesome and wrote me a chapter for another one of my fics today, and helped me out with this one as well :D **

_Lisbon nodded, and bent down to comfort a seemingly terrified Natalie, who immediately flung her arms round her when she got low enough, "It's ok," Lisbon whispered, hugging her tightly, "Everything is going to be just fine."_

Chapter 8

God was she glad that her day was over. Natalie was safe, she wasn't with her parents yet, but she was in a foster home – one of the decent ones, Lisbon had made sure of that. She was too 'involved' for Natalie to stay at hers again, it was better this way. At least that was what she told herself. Natalie's parents were staying in a hotel, courtesy of the CBI, not far away from the head quarters. And she was tired, so very tired. Watching Natalie be led away by social services had emotionally drained her, even though she knew she would see her and her parents tomorrow – the sadness in her eyes resurfaced, along with the fright. Her foster parents were good people, she had come across them in other cases before and had been reassured again by Minelli.

Jane's voice brought her out of her thoughts and back to reality, "She'll be okay you know,"

"She should be here,"

"There's nothing you can do about that, it wasn't your choice." He said, sitting down on the couch next to her – they had come back to her apartment, Jane had insisted, and if she was honest she hadn't put up much of a fight. How could she refuse anyway, when he was being so sweet and caring?

"She's never going to trust me again,"

"She doesn't blame you,"

"How would you know? And it doesn't matter anyway, we have nothing. Eleven girls, potentially more, are could be being abused as we speak, and we don't have a damn thing!" She said angrily, her eyes watering.

He didn't say anything, just put his arm round her shoulder, pulling her closer to him, "We'll get them," he said looking at her, the truth in his eyes piercing her heart, and suddenly, she couldn't take it anymore. So many emotions, in such a small amount of time. Natalie, the case, Jane…

She had to do something to stop the hurt, something to forget. So she kissed him, releasing some of the pent up tension that had been slowly building over the past couple of days. She poured all her emotions in it, finding relief in sharing them with someone else.

She kept kissing him, and it seemed, with each kiss, the memories of today faded a little more, with each kiss, she lost herself in him bit by bit. This was supposed to help her forget, but all it was doing was opening the floodgates – yes, the case's details had stopped running through her mind, Natalie's face was no longer at the forefront of her mind, but now her heart was speeding up. Fresh new emotions that before she had fought back, were coursing through her, hurting her, but feeling so good at the same time.

"You're not in a good state of mind," Jane said, pushing her away gently, looking into her lust filled, desperate eyes. But she could read the same lust in his eyes, mingled with hesitation, and a tenderness that made her ache inside.

"I don't care," she said, and gave him a passion fueled kiss, breaking away, and whispering softly, "Tell me honestly you don't want to do that again," her voice was weak and trembling, and his breath hitched as she traced her fingers across his jaw and down, resting a hand on his chest.

"I don't want to hurt you,"

"Stop talking," she said, pressing her lips to his and straddling him,

"Lisbon," he moaned through their kiss.

"What?" she mumbled, ridding herself of her jacket, kissing him again.

"You're killing me,"

"You're the one who's kissing me back,"

"I don't want to hurt you," he said again, "We can't do this,"

"Please," she whispered, hating herself for pleading with him like this, something she had sworn she would never do, but these were not normal circumstances, and he was certainly not just any guy, "Please, just, I need this, I need you,"

"Please don't make me hurt you," he said sadly,

"I need you," she told him, beginning to unbutton his shirt, "Jane, I, I love you,"

"You're just saying that," he said, her words tugging dangerously on his heart, as he stopped her hands gently.

"Just give me this one, for once, give me this one." She begged,

"I can't hurt you," he said, looking her in the eye, "I can't."

"I'm already hurting," she said, tears shimmering in her eyes, "Surely a bit more doesn't matter,"

"Every bit matters with you," he told her, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"If you care about me at all, you won't fight me on this,"

"No, that's exactly why I won't do this," he said,

"Stop thinking," she said, "You need to stop thinking, for me, Patrick,"

He wasn't sure what it was that broke in him, maybe it was the way she murmured his name, maybe it was just his limited self control when he had Lisbon on top of him, saying the things she was saying, or maybe he was tired of fighting something he wanted as badly as she did – whichever it was is irrelevant really, all that mattered was that he was kissing Teresa Lisbon, and her hands were everywhere, running through his hair, across his chest, daintily undoing the buttons on his shirt.

"Promise me you won't regret this in the morning," he said, before they continued and he lost any kind of control he was still clinging onto.

"I thought we were done thinking," she whispered against his neck, nipping the smooth skin there gently.

And then she had him undone, the last scraps of control were gone, and he decided that he was going to have to take that as a yes.

**Please review. I've been working on this for houuursssss. :P And i have school tomorrow... no excuse i know, as do millions of other teenagers who i am sure feel my pain. But still. The prospect is still depressing. :P **

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	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys. So it's been a while again :P But... MY EXAMS ARE FREAKING OVER. :P I'm really rather happy. :P So this is short, but you guys deserve it. I'm like the most infrequent UDer ever. But hope you like it, and you might wanna reread the last chapter :P If i forgot what happened then it's pretty likely you guys did too :P **

_He wasn't sure what it was that broke in him, maybe it was the way she murmured his name, maybe it was just his limited self control when he had Lisbon on top of him, saying the things she was saying, or maybe he was tired of fighting something he wanted as badly as she did – whichever it was is irrelevant really, all that mattered was that he was kissing Teresa Lisbon, and her hands were everywhere, running through his hair, across his chest, daintily undoing the buttons on his shirt._

_"Promise me you won't regret this in the morning," he said, before they continued and he lost any kind of control he was still clinging onto._

_"I thought we were done thinking," she whispered against his neck, nipping the smooth skin there gently._

_And then she had him undone, the last scraps of control were gone, and he decided that he was going to have to take that as a yes._

Chapter 9

Her eyes drifted open at the sound of her alarm, she felt a sense of dread, like she'd done something awfully wrong, but she couldn't quite place it. Never mind, though, she was so warm and comfortable… she really didn't want to get out of – "Shit," she said, untangling herself from the man she was lying beside. "Shit," she said again, horrified as the previous evening's events came flooding back to her, full blast, as she scrambled off him, tugging the sheets around her.

"Morning,"

"We had sex last night,"

"Well done Lisbon," Jane said teasingly, hoping that due to her current state of mind, joking would be the best way to go.

"Shit,"

"I didn't think it was that bad," he said, and although the situation was serious, he couldn't help but take some delight in watching her cheeks grow redder by the second, as she realized just how not that bad it had been.

The delight stopped however, as she became so embarrassed she was on the verge of tears. No doubt remembering their conversation last night, her actions. He hoped she knew she wasn't judging her for it, that he would never judge her for it, but, knowing Lisbon, he was going to have to say it a hundred times before that actually went in.

"_Please, just, I need this, I need you," _

"_Please don't make me hurt you," he said sadly,_

"_I need you," she told him, beginning to unbutton his shirt, "Jane, I, I love you,"_

Tears shimmered in her eyes, and she looked around for an escape route, but there was no where to go, really, he was the door side of the bed, and clothes were strewn around the room, half her stuff wasn't even in here.

"You don't have to run," he said, looking at her, but she looked away, to embarrassed to even make eye contact, on the verge of tears.

"We're… you're…" she started, but she couldn't finish her sentence. She took a deep breath, "I didn't mean what I said last night,"

"You weren't in your right mind," he said gently,

"Jane, I'm, look, I'm sorry" she stumbled across her words, and he hated it. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted to happen, but he was the one who had given in, it was him at fault really. But who could resist her? Who could when she's on top of you, kissing you, telling you she needs you? He had been so desperate not to hurt her, and he had failed again.

"Don't look so upset," he said, pleading with his eyes. "Come here," he whispered.

She looked at him through tear filled lashes, "It won't change anything now," he said, and she gave in, scooting closer to him.

He wrapped his arms around her, and then the tears started. He held her as she cried, still unable to believe she had let him in like this, but she needed it, she needed him, or at least, someone to do this, to be here when she cried. He would just be eternally grateful it was him. "I know," whispered every so often, kissing the top of her head as her body shook, he might have taken the pain away briefly last night, but it had hit full force this morning, just like he'd known it would. Sometimes all he wanted was to stop feeling, forever and ever and ever, but she wasn't there, and he hoped she would never be, no matter how bad she was feeling right now. She'd kept the pain at bay last night, but it never stays gone for long – they both knew that.

It had been a long time, probably too long, since Lisbon had let herself go like this. Even longer since she'd done it in front of someone, and she hadn't cried in someone's arms since she was eleven, since before her mother died. She hated and loved that it made her feel this way, the human presence was so… comforting. So she did cry, and it felt good, it made her feel slightly better every time he tightened his grip that little bit more, or kissed the top of her head. Her emotions were painful, but he made it bearable, and all that really did was make her head more confusing.

But she knew she couldn't sit here like this forever. She had a job to do, and she owed Natalie that much. Five more minutes, she told herself. Then she'd get up, and go to work, and try her hardest to block out all these emotions. Or at least hide them. It was something she'd had to be good at for a very long time.

**No actual plot development. But some nice (if very cheesy...) jisbon hurt/comfort. :P **

**Hope you liked it! Pleeeaaaaaseeeee review! **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi guys! Aha. Ahahaaaa. So it's nearly been a year. Ooops. I'm sorry, i really am. And if anyone's still reading then WELL DONE, though you may have to re read the whole thing before any of this makes sense. I had to :P gosh i feel bad. Still i wanted to keep going... so i hope if any of you are still reading you enjoy this. **

Chapter 10

Once they separated she began to act like nothing had ever happened, and he let her, for now. She was focused, on her job, on Natalie. He respected that she needed to separate what just happened from that, but he wasn't going to let her keep him at arm lengths forever. Or for any significant length of time really.

They travelled to the CBI building in silence. She drove, and he let her.

They got to work far earlier than anyone else normally would be, but the rest of the team were only in half an hour after them anyway. Another hour after that and Natalie's temporary foster guardians had dropped her back at the CBI, where she flew through Lisbon's office door and straight into Lisbon's arms.

"Hello," Lisbon couldn't help but smile a little, "was your night okay?"

"Yes," the girl said, "they were nice."

"Good," she replied, as Jane walked in.

"Hi Natalie," he said, his expression subtly turning from serious to smiley when he saw her. The first expression hadn't gone unnoticed by her though.

"Hi Mr. Jane."

"Hey, Lisbon," he said, and she took the hint.

"Natalie, can you sit here for a second? Do you want anything, have you had breakfast?"

"No I'm okay thanks, I had toast at the foster peoples house," she said, making herself comfortable in Lisbon's chair.

The two of them stepped outside her office, and she closed the door. "Natalie's parents want to see her," he said in a way of an explanation.

"Well they can't, and I hope no one's let them anywhere near this floor after the mess up yesterday."

"Yeah well I know that," he said, "But what do we tell them?"

"It's an ongoing investigation, they'll get her back but this case, it's hardly going to be standard protocol." She sighed.

"Right," he said, "I'll tell Rigsby. You got anything?" He asked, hopeful.

"I'm about to start working on the other girls see if the names Natalie gave us leads anywhere, but I'll need her help on identifying them. Ask Van Pelt to find anything she can on a Clarissa Isabelle Rosen, birth records, anything on file, we need to know about that eighteen month old. I don't know if it'll get us anywhere but Natalie gave us a definite full name and I want to know why."

"Okay," he said, "What are you going to do with Natalie?"

"She can stay in there with me, I'll need her if I find any of the missing girls and in the meantime I can give her something to do."

With that she went back into her office. "Natalie I have to do some work that's going to help me find your friends," she said quietly, "but is there anything you want to do?"

Natalie looked at her carefully, evidently deciding it was better not to ask any questions. "Can I have a pencil and some paper?" she asked.

"Sure," Lisbon said, searching through her desk drawers to find those items, "Do you like drawing?"

"Yeah," she said, "We don't have much else to do, but we have a few books and there's paper and pencils."

Lisbon put on her best fake smile as she handed her the pencil and paper, a sad picture forming in her head of Natalie and other girls sat on the floor in a room somewhere, pencils and paper out, pictures strewn across the floor, with nothing else to do all day except pray that no one would come in for them. She felt the lump in her throat becoming more prominent and swallowed, trying to squash the feelings. Feelings could come later. Work was now.

She watched as Natalie got settled, occasionally getting lost in the way she stared so intently at the page as her hand moved the pencil across it. Briefly wondering what she was drawing, before she tore her eyes away and back to the computer screen with missing persons database up on it. Deciding that Louise Oakley was her best bet – Natalie had said she'd arrived most recently, and had talked about missing her parents. She'd surely been reported missing.

A few minutes later and she had a hit that fit with Natalie's description of the girl. Nine years old and reported missing just over a month ago, there was a recent photo of her attached, another pretty little girl, blonde haired with big blue eyes and a bright smile. She felt a flash of anger towards the people who could do this to young girls, but again she tried to push it aside. "Natalie can I borrow you a second?" she asked, needing to be sure she'd found the right girl.

The girl looked up and put aside her drawing, and went round Lisbon's desk. "That's Lou!" she exclaimed on looking at the screen.

"Are you sure? It's definitely her?"

Louise nodded, "Why? Have you found them?"

"No," she said quickly with a pang, feeling guilty for not explaining herself, "We're just trying to find the girls you mean, to see if she lived anywhere near you used to, things like that."

"Oh," she said, "that's clever."

"We like to think so," she smiled, "thanks Natalie, I'm just going to go let Mr. Jane know."

"Okay," Natalie said, "Am I, am I going to see my mom and dad soon?" she asked nervously.

She gave her what she tried to make a reassuring smile, "not quite yet sweetie, I'm sorry. But hopefully soon, hopefully."

"Okay," Natalie whispered softly, returning to her drawing.

Lisbon watched her sadly, and left the office. "I've got a hit on Louise Oakley, nine years old, abducted just over a month ago. She lives just over an hour away from where Natalie was originally taken."

"Are you going to call the parents?" Cho asked.

"And tell them what?" Lisbon said, "we haven't got anything to tell them, I'm not going to get their hopes up just yet. Van Pelt are you anywhere on Clarissa Rosen?"

"According to official records a Clarissa Rosen was born on the 2nd January 2010, and according to records died four hours later," Van Pelt told her.

"Do you know why?"

"No, the hospital said they couldn't give me any further information."

"So either it's a stolen identity, which I can't see why they'd need, or they took her as a baby. Get a warrant to pull her and her parents medical records and files."

"It doesn't make sense though," Jane started, "Why would they take a baby, kidnapping the girls was working just fine for them, why start this? And why keep her name and pretend she died, why not just take her?"

"I don't know," Lisbon said, "But we're going to find out. Rigsby what did the parents say?"

"They weren't happy boss, but they're coming in. I said I'd keep them as up to date as possible."

She nodded her thanks, "Cho-"

"Boss I think I just found Melanie Punshon on missing persons," he interrupted.

She went over to the computer screen, "Fits Natalie's description again roughly, but it's hard to tell."

"Went missing five years ago, about a three hour drive from where Natalie was taken from."

"Okay," she said, "Okay. Keep trying to find the names she gave us, anything that might give us a general location as to where this is going on."

"So many abductions, didn't someone make the connection?" Jane thought aloud, a huge amount of sadness in his expression.

"Kids go missing every day," she said softly, "no one was going to make the link." She lifted a hand to go to comfort him, and suddenly remembered herself and awkwardly clutched her hand into a fist and lowering it again.

"I'm going to follow up on that Clarissa Rosen lead, Van Pelt can I get the address for that hospital? I need you to take care of Natalie," she said, looking at her.

"Address is just about to get come through on your cell, and sure boss, that's fine." She smiled, "where is she?"

"She's drawing," Lisbon smiled a little, "in my office, I'll go get her."

Natalie still had a pencil to paper when she re-entered her office, "Hey," she said, poking her head round the door. "I have to go for a bit because we're going to ask some questions, so do you mind sitting out here with Agent Van Pelt for a bit?"

"Okay," she said quietly, quickly finishing off a sketch. "Here," she said, handing Lisbon the bit of paper.

Lisbon took the bit of paper, "Wow," she said, shocked, but also touched. It was a sketch, a very good one for her age, of her and Jane. "Did you draw this from memory?"

"Well you were sat there so you were easy, but I had to try and remember Mr. Jane's face," she told her.

Lisbon stared down at the picture in her hands, touched by her actions. "I am going to keep this forever," she told Natalie smiling, "thank you."

"You're welcome," she said, leaving her office and obediently going to sit by Van Pelt, with another bit of paper and her pencil still clutched in her hand.

"You ready to go?" Jane asked, appearing by her side.

"Yeah," she said softly, "give me a minute."

**If you'd like me to continue please let me know, and i will if i get a response but if no one's reading i don't really see the point :P if you want me to i promise i won't take as long to update as i did this time! aha :) **

**Thanks for reading, **

**Emily xxxx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay come on guys, but how quick was this for me? :P Disregarding the fact i'm going to fail my geography GCSE on Monday because my brain has just decided it wants to write, overall i'm quite pleased with how i've thought this out. Case fics are not my strongest point :P i tend to lose the plot a bit. **

**Thank you SO SO SO much to everyone that reviewed last chapter, sorry if i didn't reply personally but as you may have guessed i'm in the middle of exams and i don't want you to think i don't appreciate them all because i do, i'm just crazy busy and stressed and everything. **

**Hope you enjoy :)**

Chapter 11

They'd arrived at the hospital and gone straight to the Chief of the place, who had directed them to a Doctor who'd actually been there at the time that Clarissa Rosen had been born. In turn he had directed her to the nurse that had been involved in the case. They'd walked around a lot of floors and gotten lost twice, but eventually they were there talking to Nurse Edwards, who, apparently remembered the baby.

"She was a sweet thing, but she was ever so small," the brown haired woman sighed, "it's always terrible when the little ones die, her mother was so young as well, it was all very odd."

"How old was the mother?" Lisbon asked, and Jane could practically hear her brain ticking round.

"I'd have to check to confirm it but she can't have been more than about seventeen."

"I appreciate that you have patient confidentiality laws you have to stick to, but is there anything, any observations you made about this girl?"

The woman looked Lisbon up and down, she had very perceptive eyes, Lisbon noticed. "She came in with another woman, her mother. She did a lot of the talking. The girl herself was very quiet, I remember because she rarely looked straight at me. I'm still not convinced that she was there completely, but she seemed bright, you know how you can tell with some of them? She came in with a bruise on her eye and more bruising on her arm and a little on her stomach. She said she'd fallen down the stairs."

"Did you think that that was the truth?"

The woman looked at her, "Agent Lisbon I understand what you're thinking right now, but the truth was when I asked her about it, she backed up the story she was adamant that she'd fallen down the stairs. There was nothing we could have done, she had her baby, it died, and a day later she was gone – against recommendations I can assure you. But I didn't tell you that," she said.

"Thank you," Lisbon nodded.

"Can we see where she stayed?" Jane asked, butting in.

"Sure," the nurse said, "Wait here for a minute."

"If Clarissa's mother was that young," Lisbon started.

"That seventeen year old Natalie talked about," Jane continued.

"What they were doing, it got her pregnant."

"They brought her here to have the baby – maybe they had to for some reason."

"We need that name," Lisbon said, "We need to know her name."

"I doubt they brought her here under her actual name."

"I'm going to ring the office and talk to Natalie, see if she can remember the girls name that she mentioned. She said she went away but they still have the baby, they might have… gotten rid of her."

Jane shook his head, "they make a profit out of these girls, she might still have her uses, they probably keep her there, use the baby as a way of making sure she stays?"

"We're jumping to a lot of conclusions here-" she started.

"Come on," he said, "it makes sense, everything adds up. A woman comes in with a young pregnant girl, claiming to be her mother, she has the baby but the baby dies, quite conveniently, it has to be the girl Natalie told us about."

"I'm going to call Natalie, see if she remembers anything," she said, looking at him. "And I hope you're right, this is the first real break we've had," she sighed, turning away and dialing Van Pelt's desk number.

"Van Pelt," she said, after a few rings.

"Hey," she said, "Can you put Natalie on for a second?"

"Sure," she said, "She just here – everything okay?"

"We might have just caught a break on the case," Lisbon said, "I'll explain properly when we get back,"

"Okay Boss."

"Hello?" Natalie said into the receiver.

"Hi Natalie, it's me, I was wondering if you could tell me something that might help with the case?"

"What do you want to ask?"

"The older girl you talked about, the seventeen year old that went away? Can you remember her name?"

"Her name was Claudia," Natalie said.

"Can you remember if she ever told you her last name?" Lisbon asked softly, hoping, praying this girl had been clever enough to broadcast that information.

"Plume," Natalie said immediately, "Claudia told everyone that when they weren't there, if you could remember your last name, you told everyone it. I don't really know why I guess it was just something we did, in case something like what happened to me happens. Not that we thought it would, they always told us if we tried to run away that they'd find us," she said, and Lisbon could hear the fear in their voice, "I'm scared for the other girls," she said softly, "Miss. Cathy, and her friends, they're going to be angry," the anxiety and slow build up of panic was clear again in her voice and Lisbon tried her best to calm her down.

"Hey Natalie listen," she spoke softly, "your friends are strong, and they have each other. When you're around people you care about it makes it all easier, they'll be okay because they're together. We're trying our best to find them, hopefully they won't have to be there for too much longer."

It might have been her imagination, but she could have sworn she heard Natalie's breathing become a little steadier, "Thank you," she said quietly, reverting to the nervous girl she'd been when they found her.

"Anytime," she said quietly, as she looked round she saw Jane approaching, and spoke again "I have to go Natalie, but I'll see you a bit later."

"Okay," she said, "Bye."

"Bye," Lisbon said smiling sadly, and then she hung up.

"You alright?" he asked, moving his hand up to brush her arm.

She nodded, "we have a name," she looked up at him, "Claudia Plume."

Nurse Edwards approached, "The girl," Lisbon started, "that came in, was her name Claudia Plume?"

"No," the woman said, looking at the file, "Her name was Claire Peters," she said, frowning slightly. "You wanted me to show you the room?"

"Yes," Jane said, not breaking eye contact with Lisbon. They both knew what the other was thinking.

They hung back a little, speaking in hushed tones as the nurse briskly walked to where the girl had stayed. "That name is too much of a coincidence," Jane whispered, "it has to have been her."

"But if they were changing her name then why make it quite so obvious, why not change it completely?"

"They never expected anyone to be looking for her, not now, ask Van Pelt to search her name, but I bet she was abducted a long time ago. They'll have changed her appearance, and the false name was just so no one recognized the name from years ago. The same initials, easier to remember and the girl was less likely to slip up." He said softly.

Jane was right, the pieces were beginning to fit together, and it was good to finally be getting somewhere but it was no good if they still had no clue where the girls were being held.

"In here," the nurse said, showing them into what was luckily an unoccupied room. "I'll leave you to it," she said, "I'll be just outside."

Lisbon looked around, it was a typical hospital room, the clinical smell and the neat layout, the crisp white sheets, so clean you don't want to taint them, much less bleed or throw up all over them. She'd seen the inside of hospitals a lot more than she cared to admit. She knew what it was like to be in that bed, or worse to be sitting outside in the waiting room, waiting for someone to tell you what was going on.

He watched her with interest, he had his own demons when it came to the inside of hospital walls, though the ones that haunted him were very different to that of a medical hospital. Padded walls and locked rooms were part of his, but the clinical, disinfectant smell was the same to whichever kind of hospital you went to. They had a constant thing going there, he decided.

"She was all alone," Lisbon said softly, he wasn't even sure she was aware that she'd spoken the words.

He looked at her sad eyes, and for a second glimpsed a little of the vulnerability she usually hid so well when they were out and about in the world. But right now it was shining clear in her eyes, and he was reminded of the heaviness of this case, and how personally she was taking it.

"She was strong," he said, trying to find a way of comforting her. After the night they'd just shared it took everything he had not to go and wrap his arms around her, kiss her lips softly and whisper that everything would be okay.

"She was seventeen," she said, sitting down on the other side of the bed and looking away from him. "They made her come here; she must have desperately wanted to get out. But she couldn't tell, because they wouldn't leave her for a second with anybody. She had to deal with all of this by herself, at seventeen."

He walked round and sat down next to her, "We'll find them you know, we will."

"And if we don't?" she turned to him, scolding herself internally for the build up of tears in her eyes. "I know what it's like to feel alone."

She felt his hand grasp hers tightly, and while at any other time she would have pulled away, she was thankful for the contact. His next words were so quiet she'd wondered if she was just day dreaming, but the meaningful look in his eyes told her otherwise. "You're not anymore."

She smiled a little, and thought of Natalie. "You're right, she was strong. She might have left something here, something that would help us." She got up off the bed and began to inspect the room, without saying anything, he followed.

A few minutes later, and she heard a slightly excited cry, "Lisbon!"

**If you review i'll try and update soon :p I only have exams on three days next week ;) And i only have four left!**

**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!**

**Emily xxx**


	12. Chapter 12

**I know it's been a while again guys, but i've been in mexico and then france and just got back from france about an hour ago, wrote this on the ferry. You may have to reread last chapter to get it, i certainly did! Hope you like it, we're finally making some progress :P **

Chapter 12

"Come in here," he said from the ajoining bathroom that was part of the hospital room.

He was pointing at the toilet seat and for a second she wondered if he'd gone mad, "Look behind it," he said at her confused expression, "Look behind the seat."

She bent and peered down at the wall, her mouth open in shock as she saw what he'd been looking at.

In tiny, awkward lettering, was an address, and the words 'Catherine Ann Chaud, Help me, CP'

She stared at him in shock, "CP must be Claudia Plume, Miss Cathy… that Natalie keeps mentioning."

Jane nodded in agreement, "We have an address, we have to go."

"Wait a second," she said, "How could she have known the address? We need to get back to the CBI and get the team together, we'll need back up, we don't know about accomplices, how many there are, besides that was eighteen months ago, they might have moved since then."

She flipped her phone open, "It's me, Grace I need you to search a Catherine Ann Chaud, and quickly. I'll let you know what's happening when we get back, are Cho and Rigsby in? Make sure they are when I get back, we could have an address. Oh and ask Natalie whether they've been moved in the last eighteen months, since Clarissa arrived."

She hung up. "How did no one notice this? And how would she have known the address and her full name, Natalie said that they never called her anything but Miss. Cathy." She looked at him desperately, needing an explanation.

He looked right back, "I think she saw some mail for her, a letter addressed to her that came to the place, probably when she was coming out to the hospital, maybe before. It probably didn't worry this Catherine person because she has such a hold over them – you've seen Natalie, none of them were going anywhere any time soon, and she was around Claudia the whole time she was in here, never a minute alone with any staff, she stayed there constantly. She was only alone when she went to the bathroom," he pointed, "To write a message that wasn't found until we arrived."

She nodded, that would explain things. "But, presuming that this was Claudia Plume and Clarissa was her child, how did they fake the child's death, according to Natalie Clarissa is still around, and why does she have a different last name to her mothers fake one? Why not name her Clarissa Peters? It states that a Clarissa Rosen died, not a Clarissa Plume or Peters."

"They'd have told the hospital that they wanted to name it after the dad, so that the name wouldn't be connected to the missing girl or the false identity. Rosen could be a clients name or it might just be made up, but that doesn't matter, because she 'died' a few hours later. The name goes on a record somewhere, and then she disappears."

"None of this is easy to prove," she said, and at his look added, "I'm not saying I disagree, but this is guess work, there's no evidence except that a young women under the name of Claire Peters came in and had a child, who according to a ten year old, didn't die like the records said."

"Records can be changed, a business as big as this they will have people they know. Things can be changed, names swapped round, you can read anything in a file." He said, "And I imagine these people make a lot of money, things slip under the system you hold so dear, it happens. And why do we need proof if when we get to this address there are a dozen kids there, all from the missing persons database, that coupled with Natalie's testimony…"

"I'm not worried about the conviction," she said, "I'm worried about getting a search warrant on what we have – an address on a wall in a hospital."

"We're looking for children and we have Natalie as a witness, surely all that legal stuff won't be that difficult."

She looked at him, "I'm going to show the nurse a photo of Claudia Plume and get her to identify her as the girl that was brought in," she finished just as her phone started ringing.

"Lisbon," she said quickly.

"Hey boss," It was Van Pelt, "Natalie just confirmed that they haven't been moved in the last eighteen months, she said since they had Clarissa that they'd stayed in the same place."

"Thanks," Lisbon said, and hung up.

"They hadn't been moved since Claudia had Clarissa," she said, fighting back tears for no real reason.

He nodded, "Are you alright?"

"They just make me so angry," she shook her head, "I'm fine, I'm going to talk to the nurse again," she said.

She went outside to speak with the nurse, who was waiting there patiently. "Is this the girl who you saw eighteen months ago?" Van Pelt had sent her the picture of Claudia from the Claudia Plume hit she had on missing persons, apparently abducted at twelve, quite late, Lisbon noted. The photo had been digitally enhanced to show what she might have looked like a year a half ago, she explained this to Nurse Edwards.

"It could be her," she nodded.

"Can you be certain?" The nurse squinted at the photo, "I'm sorry, I know the quality isn't great but this is very important, her life could be in danger and eleven other girls lives are too," she gently, attempting to get her to understand the gravity of the situation.

"Yes," she said, "That is her."

She got her phone out, and it barely rang once. "Grace, we've got a positive ID on Claudia Plume who we suspect to be Clarissa's mother, and an address that is potentially where the girls are being kept. Jane and I are coming back now."

"Okay Boss," she said down the other end of the line. "I've got something, Catherine Anne Chaud appeared five years ago, it's a false identity, she's got a fake past and her current address is listed as somewhere in Texas, which obviously can't be. I've been looking but I can't find any connections to who she really is, but I'll keep digging."

"Thanks, let Cho and Rigsby know all of that and tell them to ring if they find anything but we should be back soon."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

"What are we doing now?" She was surprised to find Jane right behind her and turned around.

"I'm going to call a judge and get a warrant for this address," she told him, "Let's go."

They arrived at the CBI quickly, Lisbon having succeeded in getting the judge to agree to the warrant, Cho was going to get it now.

Jane was sat in Lisbon's office with Natalie and Grace, and Lisbon was explaining everything to Minelli. She was less than five minutes.

"We've got the go ahead from Minelli," She said as she walked in the door. "Where's Rigsby?" she asked confused.

"Right here boss," he said, coming up behind her, "Had just been searching the other names that Natalie had given us, but I hear you two came up with something more useful."

"We're going in," she said, "You two go prep, make sure we have some back up, I'm going to have a chat with Natalie," she smiled at the girl who was sat on the couch, and Grace got up to leave.

"Natalie I'm sorry but I have to ask you a few questions again," she gestured to the social worker who had been outside filling out forms of some description, "This won't take long because we have to go soon."

"Have you found where everyone is?" She asked softly, her big eyes looking up at them, almost as though she was scared of the answer.

"We think so," Lisbon said, "We found out a lot about Claudia, which helped us."

Natalie nodded, "What are asking me questions for?" She asked, confused.

"We need to know how many adults are there other than Miss. Cathy," she said.

"Three," Natalie said quickly, "Three that are there all the time, I don't know their names."

"Men or women?"

"One other woman and two men," she said.

"Anybody else, anyone at all?"

"Miss Cathy has a lot of friends, we can hear them sometimes upstairs, if they're shouting." She said, with a haunted look that told Lisbon she was back there, reliving it.

"Have you ever seen them?" Lisbon asked gently.

"Sometimes," she said, "Sometimes the men come," she said, struggling, "To… pick, but we only see them once mostly."

Lisbon felt sick, "Do you know if the people who are there all the time have weapons?"

"They have knives," Natalie said, with a small wince. What this girl must have been through broke Lisbon's heart. She didn't push the matter, she clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"And I've seen the men with guns before, but we don't see them very much, the men I mean." She said.

"Thank you, Natalie," Jane spoke for the first time, "You've helped your friends a lot," he said.

She nodded seriously, "Be careful," she said to Lisbon, eyes full of fear, "They're nasty people."

"Don't you worry about us," Lisbon smiled, struggling with her emotions but hiding it well.

"Can I stay here til you get back?" She asked.

Lisbon glanced at the social worker, how she wanted to say yes, but it was up to her social worker really. Natalie noticed this.

"Please," she said to her social worker, "I'm okay and if I'm tired I can sleep on Mr. Jane's couch or this one!"

"It's a good couch." Jane smiled.

"Okay," said the social worker, "I'm sure Agent Lisbon will call before you come back to let me know that everything's okay," she said pointedly, and Lisbon got the message.

"Of course, make yourself at home," she said to the social worker, "I know you already have," she said to Natalie, who smiled.

"Bye Natalie," Jane said, grabbing his jacket and waving.

"Bye Mr. Jane," he smiled, and walked out.

"See you soon," Lisbon said, "You know where the fridge is," Natalie giggled, and she smiled back, before turning and leaving, and trying very hard not to look back.

"You ready?" Jane asked, touching her hand so briefly that it was barely noticeable, but it was enough.

"As I'll ever be," she said, "Come on, let's go get them."

**They'll be more jisbon next chapter, i promise. :P But that leads me to another issue, i'm hugely grateful to the people that reviewed last chapter but the number was quite low :( If people are reading, let me know, but if not i don't really see the point in continuing to post - i know how this ends in my head :P if you'd like to see another chapter, please let me know and i will definitely continue writing :) **

**Also on a fresh note, if any of you are interested i've just started another multichapter mentalist fic, if you've liked this i can assure you you'll like that, it's a high school fic with a difference, let's put it that way. :)**

**Thanks for reading guys, please review! :) **

**Emily xxx**


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